My son Aaron texted me from Haiti this morning. He requests prayer for himself, his team, and the ministry in Jacmel. He has had a sense this week that he’s been under spiritual attack. He’s doing vital work moving the gospel forward and working as an agent of hope, and he’s felt some serious spiritual push back. This has taxed him emotionally.

Please join my wife and I as we pray for him and all that he puts his hand to as he makes the Name of Jesus known in Haiti.

Aaron’s missionary page

Calvary Chapel Haiti Initiative

This week has been good. We had a team come in and most of the team had never been on a mission trip before. By the end of the week I was super surprised by how effective they were. They were servants, they were flexible, and were able to roll with the punches.

Dave and Darlys were in Fort Lauderdale for three days this week so it was just me leading. I think everything went really well. The majority of what we did this week involved the Children’s Program. We got a whole bunch of new supplies including a flannel graph kit that has like a billion bible characters that needed to be cut out. We spent most of our week traveling to our program sights and to orphanages to do the Program, prepare gospel bracelets (we ran out quickly), and cutting out the bible characters. The team this week was perfect for these tasks because each one of their hearts were set on serving the children of Haiti.

Children’s Program consists of skits, puppet shows, and English lessons using PowerPoint and the projector. Due to the lack of gas in the country this week, we did program without using the generator, PowerPoint, or the projector. Everything we did we incorporated into the puppet show. We did the English lesson, songs, and gospel presentation with the puppets. Our two main puppet characters are: Pierre (who is a black man puppet with short dreadlocks) and Jackie (the intelligent K-9). Kids that have seen the show chant the names Jackie and Pierre.

We traveled up to the mountains this week to a school in Cap Wooj. The school is one small room with about two hundred kids crammed into it. We came in, set up the puppet stage. These kids have never seen a puppet show before. They all watched silently with curiosity as we set up our monstrous stage.

After we did a few children’s songs, out popped Pierre. The soon as Pierre popped out from behind the puppet stage, every last child and teacher in the room began to laugh and cheer. The noise of their cheering was so loud, that it gave me goose bumps and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The unexpected reaction of the children made me laugh really hard, I almost started crying of both laughter and joy. We are getting more and more requests from pastors to do Children’s Program at various schools, orphanages, and churches.

Towards the end of the week we did a little bit of construction. Some of the schools we visit are really in need of simple things like classroom benches, chalkboards, and school supplies. So we spent some time building children’s size benches with Dave.

The last night the team was here, we did a Jesus movie outreach outside of a church in Cayes-Jacmel. We did a gospel skit, showed the movie, and gave an opportunity for the people to give their lives to Christ. Two men came up and publicly committed their lives to Christ.

I am very satisfied with the outcome of this week.

Aaron’s missionary page

Calvary Chapel Haiti Initiative

Aaron Mondok shot this video on location in Jacmel, Haiti. Aaron and I went through Shepherd’s Staff’s training in 2003. We learned invaluable lessons about missions and culture. We used what we learned in some form or fashion every single day.

This week was a good week. We had five guys here from Calvary Chapel Spring Valley. Although this has been the smallest group we’ve received since I’ve been here, we accomplished a lot.

We did a bunch of children’s programs using our new program format including a children’s English lesson with shapes and colors, and also a puppet skit that implements the gospel. The puppet skit turned out to be very popular with the kids, so Delpha and I will be putting together a new puppet skit every week as we visit our children’s program locations on a weekly basis.

We did one program up in the mountains about two hours away at a church where we previously built a tarp-roof structure. We carried some benches that we built to the church along a two-mile trail through the mountains. That day was quite an adventure. After program we walked a two-mile trail through the mountains in the pouring rain to get to our truck. Once we got to the truck, the mountain roads were too slippery to get the truck up the hills. So we walked three miles through the mountains to get to the main road where Zamor and Elise picked us up and brought us home.

I have truly been learning the importance of flexibility. With each new team that arrives, a new learning experience arrives as well as I learn to work with and alongside new teams and new personalities.

Please keep this work in prayer.

Aaron’s missionary page

This is Aaron’s second update from Jacmel Haiti. He’s doing great. I couldn’t be more proud of him.

It has been a good week having no team here. There has been a good balance of work and rest. I caught up on a little bit of sleep, but also got some time to sit down and think about the schedule and think about some ways to improve the Children's Program.

Monday, I sat and met with Pastor Ginais. We met for about an hour and we discussed the goals and purpose of the Children's Program we do in his community every week. He shared with me about his vision to help his community. Him and I established a partnership to reach out to the kids in his community. Also, on Tuesday nights we plan on attending his church each week. It's a small shack-like church structure, they cram like sixty people into it, and they do some intense Haitian worship. The last team that went really loved the cultural experience.

Tuesday, I met with Pastor Joseph just to chat. We do Children's Program with him every Tuesday. His situation is heart breaking. He runs that school of a hundred kids, about twenty of the kids sleep there and he takes care of them. None of the teachers at his school are being paid right now, he feeds about a hundred kids daily on whatever food God provides, and they have very few resources for teaching and no source of income. The needs are overwhelming, but Pastor Joseph is unshaken by the situation. He trusts God to provide, because he has no real other choice. His attitude is inspiring.

Tuesday night I preached at Pastor Ginais Church again. I taught on Job chapter one.

Thursday, I got a lot done. I typed out a schedule for the next two weeks, put a format in place for Children's Program, put together an English lesson PowerPoint show, and wrote a puppet skit that includes the gospel. Earlier in the day I met with a man named Jacques Africot. He runs a secular after school program that he wants us to come and visit and do our Children's Program there. I think it would be a great place to go and share the gospel with their kids. I will check it out later on in the week to see what their after-school program is like.

Today, I met with Delpha and Nerlande to practice the puppet skit. I had them rewrite my script in Creole and then they performed it for me. We had a lot of fun doing that. Also, Delpha and I sat down today and we listen to the Creole Puppet skits that Calvary Chapel sent me; Delpha translated it for me so that we can plan on using the skit in the future.

Tomorrow Dave and I will be building the Puppet stage.

The Children's Program is slowly evolving; this week has been good for putting a plan in place. I look forward to seeing how it all works out with the kids.

This is a little boy I met in an orphanage. He has a mental disability he weighs not much more than twenty pounds, and he is nine years old. --Aaron Mondok

Aaron posted this picture on his Facebook account today. He wrote yesterday in his update to us that he met this little guy and that he planned on seeing as much of his new friend as possible.

Aaron has always had a tender spot in his heart for the marginalized and less fortunate. To be honest with you, I never thought much about those with disabilities until we adopted Allie. She has opened a whole new world to us. I spend time and hang out with disabled kids every chance I get at her school new. Something drastic happened in my life that has brought about a change of heart. But that isn't the case with Aaron. He has always been naturally tender. On the mission field, in urban ministry, or in children's ministry at our local church, he has always both given and lived the gospel around little kids. If a child is the under dog of the group, Aaron makes the kid king of the world.

Pray with us for this little guy. If you look closely at his hand, its deformed because he continually sucks it. That could be due to a combination of under nourishment coupled with his attempt to self-soothe.